Today, one of my clients’ websites got hacked. The homepage was a simple text message, no page was accessible. What are the steps to make it back again the way it was before? Download WordPress from WordPress.org web site and put it again. Update the database, if/when requested. Recreate wp-config.php from wp-config-sample.php. Temporarily set a different theme (you will put it back again, of course). Check in admin if the widgets section of the web site has a malicious code (it was the case at my client’s web site). Check the homepage / other pages for malicious codes. If you have a database back-up, recover it from there. If there is still a problem with the site being hacked, recover all the files in wp-content folder from a back-up. Change the passwords of: WordPress admin / other admin-class users. CPanel. (if different than CPanel) FTP users. Install security plugins (more than one).
I liked the fragment from this article a lot: Nu o sa mai “tocesti” niciodata. Desi toata lumea stie ca la medicina pierzi noptile invatand, daca dai de un curs care trebuie tocit, evita-l. Cauta in schimb o carte despre materia aia care sa poata fi citita cu placere. Intotdeauna e una la biblioteca. Si o sa o citesti cu placere pentru ca oamenii care au scris-o iubesc ceea ce fac, iar dragostea trezeste interesul si pentru informatia cea mai arida. Prefera metoda asta chiar daca auzi ca la examen profesorul vrea sa scrii cuvant cu cuvant dupa cursul lui. Nu e adevarat. Iar in felul asta, facultatea o sa treaca foarte usor. (Vlad Stroescu on MedLive) What he says is the following – in school, you have two basic options: You can learn things by heart, forcing yourself to remember things. You can read things with pleasure, with enjoyment, being happy with what you read. Instead of focusing to remember most things in a text book, you should rather focus on reading things which give you pleasure. While most people would think that the first option is not only implied by default, but also mandatory, the author says he is comfortable to suggesting this as a viable alternative to memorizing things.
Let’s say someone gives you a written note with a bank account. Let’s say you’re a teacher and have to calculate averages for 30 pupils from 4 different exams at a respected university. Let’s say you’re an accountant, and have 40 bills to put into an accounting system. Each of these situations should leave with little room for any error, and with big problems if you do something wrong (money are put into a different account, a pupil does not join the university and, finally, you do wrong things in accounting). How to make sure you’re right about inserting the data correctly? A classical solution would be “insert & check”. The thing is, most people would be affected by confirmation bias – “Oh, I wrote 19,275, and here it is on the original paper – 19,275. This must be right!”. Therefore, to be absolutely sure everything is correct, most people would check more than one time. But the final feeling would still be of uncertainty – “What if, still, I am wrong?”. I would suggest a solution which is more efficient time-wise, and, likely, with a better final peace of mine – “This must be right!”. The solution involves inserting the data two (at extremes, three) times. So, instead of making an Excel with all the pupils’ data, make 2 (even 3) Excel spreadsheets. In the end, there are automated solutions which check for differences. Even a fast ALT + TAB between two open windows with the same data should give a good result. In …
In the last years, I have bought getseoideas.com, fiieficient.com, getaresultnow.com, olivian.ro & olivianbreda.com. This year betterish.com, audithink.com, oliii.com. While they’re not the greatest web site one could have, they’re, as “betterish” implies, OKish and, at times, betterish than other options. How to create your own? Find a keyword which clearly defines your web site – SEO / efficiency / results / Olivian / Olivian / better / audits / Oli. Try to find an exact match domain. Olivian.ro is an example. Try to adapt the words using either of these methods: Add some letters – Oliii.com. For this, wordoid.com is an excellent tool. Add full name – OlivianBreda.com. Create complex sentences (I don’t recommend this method anymore, the first three web sites are closed, I don’t consider they represent my current ideas anymore -getseoideas.com, fiieficient.com, getaresultnow.com). Play with words – betterish / audithink (again, wordoid.com). Everyone would want o.ro or o.com, or something like that (very short). Even just SEO.com or results.com would be better. Since you can’t have this, try the next bext thing. Also see: 12 Rules for Choosing the Right Domain Name – Moz Seth’s Blog: The new rules of naming PS: Also see: Should I Rebrand and Redirect My Site? Should I Consolidate Multiple Sites/Brands? – Whiteboard Friday – Moz PS, 2015.07.30: Also see: Domain Name Generator For Perfectionists Business Name Generator & Domain Name Search PS, 2016.08.25: Also see: 8 Rules for How to Choose a Domain Name – Whiteboard Friday – Moz PS, 2018.02.05: Also see: Domain Search Bulk domain search – Cheap bulk …
There are online promotions which help buy a .com domain for 1-3$ USD, instead of 10-14 USD, which is the regular price. How to have this price for two years in a row? The trick is to combine: Buy cheap domains for the first year (current deals include GoDaddy.com for 2 USD or buying from a lesser known registrar for 1 USD). In the second year wait for a thing like Black Friday or Cyber Monday, which should give you a “transfer to us” option of 1-3 USD (I used NameCheap.com). Combining these two should give you a .com domain for around 2-6 USD for two years. The offer is far greater than any regular individual offer you might get. (as I know of) If you care for quality, pick NameCheap (as suggested by Lifehacker.com readers). P.S.: I recently bought betterish.com, audithink.com, oliii.com by this method and last year I’ve bought “transfer to namecheap.com” domains. P.S. #2: Last evening I went to buy oliii.com from GoDaddy.com for 2 USD. Previous to this, I had bought audthink.com. The thing is, you could typically only could have bought a single domain for 2 USD (one per client). But if you made your shopping cart without being logged in, applied the discount, when you logged in with your address & card data, the basket still remained at 2 USD. I did 2 or 3 tries like that. Then I came to buy the domain. Surprise! It costed 4,000 USD. Four thousand. I looked on the Internet and I found Network …
On 2013.11.15, I held the presentation “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog”, in Gaziantep, Turkey, at the “Literacy Opportunities For Adults In Rural Areas” Grundtvig Workshop (Gaziantep, Turkey 10th – 17th November 2013). The organizers – Gaziantep Training and Youth Association. More details.
Below, video + presentation + photos.
At the Lumea SEO PPC series of events, we didn’t like Facebook pages as much. Initially, we created a standard Facebook user. Time passed, we made a Facebook group, a place where pretty much all the conversation went. Then, we converted the user into a page, but lots of things were lost (especially photos). Right now, we have no user, but a page and group. The community, concerning the number of members, is bigger on the page (close to 1,300 likes) than on the group (900+). We can’t say the same thing about the activity (engagement) of the users, which are more active on the group than on the page. This would be the small tip of the current article – if it is possible, take into account creating a Facebook group, rather than a classic page. Perhaps an online store wouldn’t be a prefect fit for a group, in which the buyers and sellers share the same level. Perhaps an institution wants to communicate one-to-many (as on a page), not one-to-one (like in a group, where any member can have become a message carrier). But if you have a group of people which may potentially be united in a Facebook group, you can take into account that, when the moment of “let’s join Facebook” comes, you would do this on a group, not on a Facebook page. The advantage? The fact that only about 20% of the people who liked your page actually see its messages, unlike the Facebook group, where, if they wish so, the …
I see from time to time people using random.org web site, filming sweepstakes. The solution is rather poor – you could film as many sweepstakes as you want, until you get a valid number. The alternative? Create a list of persons, make it public, provide it to the web site, and let the web site announce it after a few days. So, the mechanism is like this: 100 people join your contest. December 10 the contest ends. December 10 – you put the list on a web site, public. December 12 – the winner is extracted from the list and you announce it. Much more difficult to arrange something, in this case. Better solutions – 1, 2.
At “Future of Media” conference, I got a very good insight – there are two ways of media creation / consumption: Lean forward – specific to a PC/laptop and smartphone – on this path, you create. You innovate, you start things, you act, you are a leader, things begin from you. Lean backward – specific to a tablet / smart TV – on this path, you do media consumption. You take what others have started, you are a follower, you do media consumption. (on a personal note, I have a a PC, a smartphone, but not a TV, and the tablet is used mostly as a laptop) :)
I just saw Prisoners (2013). I quite didn’t like the dark atmosphere in the movie.